Astra International, through a subsidiary and China-based lending company WeLab has just banded together to launch a joint venture in Indonesia focused on the nascent and still lucrative lending scene.

Named AWDA (PT Astra WeLab Digital Arta), the joint venture has announced their plans to launch a mobile lending app Maucash by the end of September. To get the ball rolling, Maucash has been registered with the Financial Services Authority (OJK), and intends to use big data analytics to also generate insights to assess the creditworthiness of their borrowers.

Beyond the new application though, AWDA seems to have plans towards providing other financial products and solutions, with a focus on big data technology, though no concrete plans have been announced.

The venture made the decision to launch Maucash due to accelerating smartphone use in Indonesia, which grew from 24.7 million users in 2013 to a staggering 103 million users as of 2018, as well as a growing internet connectivity.

“We constantly look to partner with industry leaders and we believe that WeLab is at the forefront of fintech innovation.”

Simon Loong, Founder and CEO at WeLab, stated:

Simon Loong

“WeLab is very excited to expand our fast-growing business beyond China and Hong Kong to our third market, Indonesia.”

Astra International is a well-known holding company in Indonesia that, through AWDA, will be dipping their toes into the fintech field. Despite having a diversified portfolio, the company is better known and makes most of its value from providing automobile and motorcycle products, which makes up almost half of the company’s total net profit. The group has partnered with Toyota, Daihatsu, Isuzu and Peugeot for this.

Meanwhile, WeLab is a Hong Kong-based fintech unicorn backed by the likes of TOM Group and Alibaba Group, which already operates a mobile lending platform in its hometown. The partnership will serve as a localised expansion of the company’s existing services.